Artemis Fowl and the Equine Incident
by i8waffles
Summary: Artemis begins the alien process of making a friend his age once a new employee arrives at the manor, an odd girl that can't seem to think about anything but horses. Holly and co. will be involved eventually but not right away!


Disclamier: I (sadly) due not own anything Artemis Fowl related

A/N: Sorry if this beginning seems a little vague, it was done purposely. Apologies that Artemis doesn't really have dialogue either, he will next time, I promise. Also I'm very open to constructive critiscism, I find it very helpful. Thanks!

He first met her at hospital in Dublin, but she was swiftly forgotten. Artemis II was in the process of adapting to a new life. After an ill fated run in with time travel, Artemis had gone missing for three years and returned to his family not a day older. Time had passed for them though and with it came a lot of changes, not the least of which was the addition of Artemis' twin brothers Miles and Beckett.

As a solution to making up lost time, Artemis Sr. was a great believer in father-son bonding time which could include excursions to anywhere or the most mundane errands. This was how Artemis Jr. came to be sitting on a slightly uncomfortable plastic chair in the midst of a large gym at the Rehabilitation Center in Beaumont Hospital. He had accompanied his father to one of his biweekly physiotherapy sessions. A few years ago Mr. Fowl lost his leg in a shipwreck and the prosthetic could be a strain on his other muscles which were forced to overcompensate for the missing limb; this mostly recently resulted in a strained hamstring.

Artemis watched his father lift weights on the leg press under the careful gaze of his therapist, Gerry who was a short, energetic man that moved around the gym like a whirlwind as he checked on his various patients.

Artemis' mind was occupied with several things at once, an easy and frequent task for someone with an I.Q. as absurdly high as his. His observations of the gym were passive; about the last thing queued up in his ranking of brain activity. He was currently pondering whether or not he was ready to take on a new project. Illegal activities were much harder to accomplish under the watchful eye of his parents and they were also becoming less frequent under Artemis' new policy of stealing only from people who deserved it. Hypothetically, if he were to carry out this new idea it would involve theft from the accounts of a corrupt businessman in New York and his brain buzzed with ideas.

That was why he barely noticed the first time she zoomed past him. She sat on a wheeled office chair; her hands gripped the sides with determination and her leg which was bound in a brace with a kneecap framed by scars pushed at the linoleum floor, pumping away like engine pistons, propelling her along the edge of the room. The second time she zipped past didn't really register to him either.

He was startled by her approach on the third lap however when Gerry barked: "Sarah! Slow down!"

"I'm being careful!" she shouted back over the noise of the gym equipment, "I promise not to run anyone over!"

"It's your knee I'm worried about. For the thousandth time, stop pushing yourself," Gerry said crossly.

The girl rolled her eyes and continued her journey around the gym at a slightly reduced speed. Very slightly. Artemis glanced at her knee. It was obvious to him by the scarring that she had recently undergone surgery on her ACL ligament. His mind shifted back to his plans for the Wall Street manipulator. Artemis' fellow teenagers never held his interest for long although girls had been catching his attention at annoyingly frequent rates ever since the onset of puberty.

After a time, Mr. Fowl was moved from the weights to the stair climber and shortly after Artemis wrapped up his scheme. He hadn't yet puzzled through the most difficult part though which would be how to carry it out without his parents noticing. He would worry about once they returned home. His eyes cast restlessly around the room. Many of the patients at the Rehab Center were elderly people getting coaxed out of their walkers by the physical therapist, but there were many other sorts of patients there too. At a massage table to his left, a younger man with a shoulder injury was laying face down while a therapist pulled and stretched his arm.

The girl named Sarah had been moved to a treadmill where she was jogging a rather vigorous pace. The knee brace she wore was designed to facilitate movement yet she teetered slightly as she ran and relied heavily on her arms for balance. She was also looking distinctly short of breath and red in the face. Artemis watched Gerry approach her with a frown.

"I'm beginning to lose my sense of humor about this Sarah," he said and clicked a button on the treadmill that lowered the speed a few notches.

"I'm sorry, but I want to work hard and recover as quickly as possible," she said.

"I know; that's what I'm trying to help you to do." Gerry's expression softened. "There's a fine line between working your hardest and pushing the limit. You don't want to cross it."

"I know," she replied solemnly.

"Good, then do what I tell you runt," Gerry wandered away to join Mr. Fowl as Sarah saluted and called out: "Aye cap'n!" She watched him go and once she saw that his back was turned, she jammed at the buttons until the treadmill whirred back to its previous high speeds. Artemis though this was quite foolish and pulled out his cell phone to check his email.

Once Mr. Fowl was finished on the stepper he sat on the massage table beside Artemis and Gerry applied an ice pack to his hamstring. "We'll switch to the warm pack in a few minutes like usual," Gerry told him and then rounded on Sarah who had slowed the treadmill down again on his return. He jerked a thumb at the table next to Mr. Fowl's, "Ice; you're done for the day," he ordered.

She switched off the treadmill, recklessly jumped on the table, and began yanking loose the straps on her brace.

"Sarah, you're giving Gerry gray hair," Mr. Fowl said to her. Artemis raised an eyebrow at him as he wondered why he had bothered to get to know such a silly and obstinate girl. But his father was a charismatic person so he supposed that it came with the territory.

She sighed. "I know. I don't mean to. But it really doesn't hurt much so how bad can I be pushing it? He's worrying for nothing."

"I'm not sure about that," Mr. Fowl said dubiously, "you're idea of 'doesn't hurt so much' might be someone else's version of constant agony."

"I'm not that tough," she said modestly but she looked pleased with herself and grinned, revealing a small gap in her front teeth.

"Just remember that re-injuring yourself won't get you back on a horse any faster."

She looked gloomy. "Gerry says the same thing."  
Mr. Fowl then remembered that he hadn't introduced his son to his fellow rehab patient. Artemis thought this was highly unnecessary but humored his father and politely cooperated in the quick introductions. Sarah asked a bit shyly which school he went to and he answered briefly. He was spared further socialization when Sarah's father arrived to take her home.

Not long after, Mr. Fowl finished his treatment of alternating heat and cold and they returned home. Artemis became preoccupied with the project he had been thinking about didn't give second thought to the girl with the knee injury once they left the hospital.

Little did he know that a few weeks later she would unexpectedly pop up in his life again and become something of a permanent fixture. Further down the road he would think back to their first meeting and find himself surprised that it hadn't had a more lasting impression.


End file.
